The Story of 2 Year Pommeau ('21)

Aged Pommeau occupies a curious and magical place in our operation. While its making can not be rushed, it helps even-out the highs and lows of farming. Bumper crops can be put away as spirits only to emerge again several years later, transformed through slow oxidation into a lovely after-dinner drink, reminiscent of those glorious autumn days and ripe apples falling on the damp orchard floor.

Over half the spirits in this pommeau are actually from pears, specifically wild pears that we picked in the Fall of 2018.  There are layers here: the apple spirits that we aged in oak along with our cryo-concentrated apple juice, the pear spirits that aged separately in oak which we blended in toward the end and also our ice cider, which we also added toward the end when we were trying to make the blend come out right.

To me this pommeau, our third, is all nuts.  Beside being an overwhelmingly on-year for fruit, ‘21 is a huge year for nuts.  The hickory tree near our house is huge, the nuts are huge and we have already collected ½ a bushel.  And when I smell them in a pile, I think of the pommeau, and vice versa.

~Ezra Sherman and Autumn Stoscheck Cider Makers/ Orchardists